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Embezzlement:
No Longer Easy Targets
A Peer-Reviewed Publication
Written by Cynthia Mattson, CPA
Publication date: October 2010
Expiry date: September 2013
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This course has been made possible through an unrestricted educational grant. The cost of this CE course is $39.00 for 2 CE credits.
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Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the clinician will be able
to do the following:
1. Understand what fraud is as the first step to preventing and combating its occurrence in the dental office.
2. Understand prevention methods beginning with
establishing a high standard of ethics in the office,
proving yourself a key example, and checking your
staff’s records at each initial hiring.
3. Minimize your risk of fraud by restricting editing
power to the employer, monitoring time cards,
reconciling monthly your check register to your bank
statement, and keeping in touch with patients.
4. Act at once upon suspecting or finding embezzlement,
and follow protocol to conclude the crime, instead of
responding with a first inclination to fire an employee.
Abstract
One of the most dangerous risks a small business faces
is being the target of fraud or embezzlement. Over onethird of all dental practices have experienced fraud at least
once, but distressingly, few dentists are properly trained
or equipped to prevent it. In a small business, fraud comes
in many varieties, including skimming, lapping, payroll
fraud, and out-and-out larceny, among others. Each has
its own modus operandi and telltale signs, but there are
broader measures a dentist can take to safeguard his own
practice. These range from prehiring screening techniques
to using secure accounting software and even retaining a
private investigator. If the dentist is married, the spouse can
also play a valuable role when it comes to fraud prevention.
In the event that an embezzler is found within the dentist’s
staff, proper steps need to be taken in order to ensure that
any legal action taken is as effective as possible. Despite
the large number of dentists who have been or are victims
of embezzlement, they don’t have to be easy targets.
Introduction
Scene 1: The office manager was meticulous in ensuring
that the collection totals from the practice management
system equaled the private checks, the insurance checks,
the credit card charges, and the cash. The next step was to
take all of the checks to the bank and put the cash in the top
drawer of the doctor’s desk.
Scene 2: The office manager had been a part of the dental team for almost a year. Production was strong, morale
was good, and collection ratios were high. Why did it seem
lately as if there wasn’t enough money to pay the bills?
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you are well on
the road to becoming a victim of fraud or embezzlement,
“one of the biggest pitfalls in dentistry.”1 According to
Barbara Freet, president of Human Resource Advisors
in Lafayette, California, “Dentists go into practice to be
dentists and tend to overlook the business side. They over
2
trust and often think that their staff couldn’t be robbing
them. That’s not being realistic.”2
The Experience of Embezzlement
The Facts:
• 35% of dental offices have been victims
• 17% of dental offices have been a victim more than once
What Is Fraud?
Fraud is not new. According to an Auditors Inc. survey
of approximately 1,000 certified public accountants, as
many as 40 percent of small businesses are embezzlement
victims, but only 2 percent report the crime.3 In order to
prevent and combat fraud, it is important to first understand what it is. The ADA manual brief titled “Protecting
Your Dental Office from Fraud & Embezzlement” defines
embezzlement as “the intentional and fraudulent taking of
another person’s property by one who has been entrusted
with the property for his/her or another’s own use.”4 What
differentiates fraud from ordinary theft is that the guilty
party is being entrusted with something, such as a dental
office assistant who orders supplies, an office manager
who prepares the bank deposit, or other personnel who are
given tasks and responsibilities. While these stewardships
are normal and most employees are diligent in their duties,
real harm is wrought by the few who abuse their employers’ trust. One survey found that 35 percent of dental offices have been embezzled once, and 17 percent have been
victims twice or more.5
There are various types of fraud that can occur in a
practice. Because most small-business owners have few
staff, there is generally a lack of segregation of duties.
Small businesses rarely have the internal checks and controls that permit in-house discovery. Size prevents these
firms from having the number of employees needed for
the best embezzlement protection: dividing accounting
work among several workers. The median loss at these
small companies is $98,000, enough to threaten the viability of many small firms.6
Most dentists have no formal training in white-collar
crime. They’re much more comfortable dealing with treatment plans, HIPAA, infection control, or high-tech operatory issues than with accounting practices. But there are
several common practices that open the door to fraud and
the floodgates to embezzlement. Following are some scenarios that could undermine any dentist’s most dedicated
efforts to build a successful practice.
The most glaring and easily recognizable form of fraud
is larceny. It occurs when an employee steals cash, often
from the daily deposit or from the petty-cash drawer.
Another type of fraud that is not as easy to immediately
recognize takes the form of “billing errors.” An employee
could take a payment from a patient, change the billing
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address in the computer so that the bill goes to himself,
and pocket the payment. The patient remains unaware
they have not received payment credit because he is not receiving the bill, and the dentist does not know of the theft
because it appears as though the patient is not paying his
bill. Alternatively, an employee could send out an insurance claim with a procedure that has never been executed,
then receive the insurance payment and cash the check.
Waiving a select group of patients their copayment or
deductible does not increase the income to the employee,
but it reduces the income of the practice. The last type of
billing fraud occurs after a patient receives work and the
insurance is submitted. Following the claim’s return, the
employee can delete the insurance claim and the treatment
from the practice management software. The employee
then endorses the check and cashes it himself.
A more complicated fraudulent method is called skimming. This occurs when an employee pretends to post a
payment but in actuality posts an adjustment. The patient
account balance is correct, the daily deposit balances,
and the embezzler pockets the money. One variation of
skimming is called lapping, where the guilty party takes a
payment and pockets the money. Then he collects another
payment of the same amount and posts that to the first
account. This robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul continues and
escalates. The employee probably keeps a running record
to show whose accounts are short. This perpetrator is very
detailed and controlled, and appears dedicated to the job.
Payroll is a great area for fraud. Every dentist should
look closely at the checks he is signing. Are you paying a
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ghost employee, or is one employee receiving two checks
per pay period? Do you look at the gross amount of the
check to see if the wage or salary is correct? When doing
payroll, it is easy for a dishonest employee to increase the
gross, increase the federal or state withholding, have the
net amount be correct, and wait for a nice fat tax refund.
Embezzlement is also an opportunity for an employee
who deals with supplies. Using accounting software, it can
be simple to set up a company, print an invoice, submit it
for payment, and then cash the check without ever delivering the goods. Ordering too much product, returning
the excess, and pocketing the refund is also a means for
exploiting this responsibility. Another scenario would involve ordering products from a local office supply store and
reinvoicing it with a 10 percent increase. The employee has
the practice pay the marked-up bill, keeping the difference
for himself, and then pays the office supply store.
These various methods of embezzlement might seem
complicated, but to the perpetrator, they are a way of life.
Some embezzle because they are having personal financial
problems and see no other way out; others do it just because they can or because they see their employer do it.
The majority of white-collar criminals see their actions as
temporary and intend to pay the company back. Most of
us cannot imagine how someone could dream up complex
schemes to commit fraud. According to a 2004 study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners,
almost one-quarter of all fraudulent activities in small
businesses are caught by accident, while 39 percent are
discovered by a tip from another employee. Dentists need
3
to be aware of employees who live beyond their means,
are overly protective of day sheets or computer records,
refuse to take vacation, or are the first to work and the last
to leave.7
Start at the Top
The first place to start is with your own actions. Set the
standard of complete honesty by being honest with your
patients, your staff, and the government. If you are not
honest, you cannot expect your staff to be either. Let them
know that the standard is real and prized. You can do this
by making sure that all cash is deposited along with the
checks and that practice resources are used for the benefit
of the practice and not for personal gain—i.e., don’t use
the stamps to send out your personal Christmas cards.
Check Employees
When hiring an employee you should ask for faxed resumes.
One expert, Jennifer de St. George, advises us to not even
consider someone who is using the fax machine of a current
employer. If an employee would steal time and resources
from his current employer, why would the pattern change
when he’s working for you? Perform a background check.
The ADA manual brief titled “Protecting Your Dental
Office from Fraud & Embezzlement” recommends a background check on any final candidate for a position in your
office. A duly authorized background check could include
a credit check and verification of personal references, education, and former employment. A good exercise would be
to compare the resume with the employment history listed
on a credit check. Any omissions or discrepancies should
be investigated. Make sure that you obtain permission to
contact the prospective employee’s references and former
employers. When you talk to them, listen to what the
references say as much as you listen to what they don’t
say. Background checks can also be performed by private
detectives. You might have one as a patient in your practice
or someone who refers to himself as an insurance fraud
investigator, or you can ask your insurance carrier to help
you find someone who’s qualified to perform these checks.
The credit check could alert you to potential problems with money handling and finances. You will also
need to insure against employee dishonesty. The liability insurance policy should cover money and securities
as handled in the dental practice and a bond related to
any retirement plans.
Unfortunately, performing your perceived due diligence when hiring an employee does not mean that you are
finished minimizing your risk. Think about your various
financial and management responsibilities, and don’t delegate all of them to a single employee. You, and possibly
your spouse, need to be actively involved in the financial
end of the business. This includes payroll, bank reconciliation, and paying bills. You can easily minimize the risk of
4
fraudulent checks by handling the checkbook yourself.
Paying your own bills enables the dentist or the spouse to
know the financial end of the practice more intimately.
Stay in Touch with Patients
Another way to minimize your risk is to listen to your
patients. If you have been receiving similar complaints
from multiple patients, you need to investigate. It is also
critical to be aware of what is going on in the office and
in the lives of office staff. Does the employee always carry
around a notebook or paper (possibly recording the lapping activities)? Are there lifestyle changes, such as new
cars, home remodeling projects, or extravagant vacations?
None of these actions is necessarily proof of guilt, but if
they’re inconsistent with the income level of an employee,
it might be suspicious.
Begin Today to Act
Commit now to take concrete steps right away. Manual
time cards should no longer be allowed. Practice management software systems should have a time clock as one of
their basic functions. For dental practices, an automated
time clock is a gift. Not only does the system minimize
risks of overstating hours worked, but it also reduces mathematical errors that occur in compiling time or switching
between minutes and decimals. First and foremost, ensure
that editing power is restricted to the employer; it is not
appropriate for anyone outside of the employer to have
editing power. It is also important to monitor time cards
to make sure that the earliest employee isn’t clocking in
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for everyone else. Review the time sheet before processing
payroll to make sure it is reasonable. Regularly looking it
over can confirm that employees are only clocking in on
days that they truly worked.
Who processes the payroll in the office, the dentist or
the dentist’s spouse? This is a great way for the spouse
to give value to the practice and generate some loyalty
from the staff in the process. With automated time cards
and accounting software, payroll can be executed in 15
to 30 minutes per pay period, depending on the size of
the staff. This eliminates the risk of a ghost employee or
double paychecks.
Use Your Reports
Most complete practice management systems have various audit lists. These are great for the sales reps but are
wasted if a doctor does not know what to look for or how to
review them on a regular basis. EagleSoft has a scheduler
audit trail. Focus on the filtered report that shows deleted
appointments (the full report shows all appointments that
have had any change, such as marking the appointment as
confirmed). The deleted appointment list shows the date of
the appointment and lets you know if it has been put on the
quick-fill list or deleted from the system. You are primarily
looking for appointments that have been deleted after the
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day of service has passed. This could be an indication of
billing or collecting from a patient or insurance company
followed by a deletion of all of the entries in the system that
would tie to that appointment, including the insurance
claim or any payments, treatments, and appointments. It
is much easier to spot things that are out of the ordinary
after regularly reviewing reports over a period of two or
three months, and actions that are not routine will start
to become instinctively obvious. It is important to know
the practice management system so that you can look at
various reports or transactions independently, without the
help of your front-office staff.
Your practice management system should have various levels of access to adjustments, editing functions, and
data entry. This should be controlled by your password.
If you allow the front-office personnel the opportunity to
edit freely, the adjustment and audit reports need to be
reviewed on a regular basis.
Each month you, your spouse, or your accountant
should reconcile your check register to the bank statement.
Enforce an office policy that you receive the bank statement
unopened, or have the statement sent to your home. This
can also be accomplished by downloading your statement
from the Internet. When you reconcile, make sure that you
look for and find all discrepancies. A simple and seemingly
5
minor difference of $10 could actually be a $300 transposition error and a $290 error in a deposit caused by someone
taking cash. By using the automatic fix on the computer,
you will not find either of these problems. One of the
steps that will help you find discrepancies, legitimate or
otherwise, is to make sure that each day there is a separate
deposit that matches exactly to the collection reconciliation sheet. Record the deposit in your accounting software
with the same date as the day sheet. If any questions arise,
you will know what day to investigate.
The next step is taking the monthly total of fees deposited and comparing it to the total collections for the month
recorded in your practice management system. Your software may have a function, such as the EagleSoft report
“Daily Production/Collection Summary,” which works
well for this comparison. SoftDent, PracticeWorks, EagleSoft, Easy Dental, Mogo, and Dentrix are all examples
of this type of practice management software available to
the dental community. These software systems print out
reports showing each daily total of collections with a grand
total for the month. Compare this total with the recorded
monthly total entered in your accounting software. If the
totals do not match, you can compare each of the daily
totals until you find the difference, then investigate and
resolve. Doing this simple step every month will increase
your confidence level that everything collected is being deposited. It also eliminates problems in IRS audits of your
practice income.
You will find multiple discrepancies when comparing
your daily totals if your adjustments are not set up correctly. No adjustment should affect collections or production;
mixing adjustments with either does not give you a clear
and accurate picture of what is going on in your practice.
Many dental practices are set up as preferred providers for
insurance companies. Each company should have its own
adjustment account in the practice management system.
When you are reviewing the adjustment report you will
see company by company what you are writing off. Reviewing this report takes less than five minutes per month,
and it shows all discounts given, small balance write-offs,
preferred provider adjustments, and bad debt write-offs.
When looking over this report, you are making sure that
adjustments appear proper and that you have authorized
any discounts. Look at patient names in relation to the
insurance company. Does the insured work for a company
that has a contract with that insurance provider? You might
think that as the dentist you do not need to know any of
this information—who works for whom—but part of being a small-business owner is being involved in all aspects
of the management of the company.
This is not to say that you need to perform a monthly
audit of preferred provider adjustments, only that you need
to be aware of the financial end of your practice. Pay more
attention to names that are totally unfamiliar, names of the
6
staff’s family, names that seem to appear too often, or names
that appear on the list but have not been in your office for
a long time. Use a Web camera at the front desk and take
pictures of your patients during their initial visit. This aids
you in matching up names, faces, and dental work. Again,
the mere appearance of a suspicious name is not proof of
fraud in your office. Check it out and determine what the
underlying story is. You should require a short description
of the reason for the adjustment along with initials of the
staff member for each adjustment entered.
Every office has a schedule. Many print it and hang it
in the operatory. Is it of value beyond showing the name
of the next patient? Yes. At the end of the day you should
go between your schedule and a report of your day’s
production (often referred to as “Production Reconciliation”). This helps you make sure that all work has been
properly billed out and that staff has not deleted work after
the insurance has been processed. It is important that each
provider check his own production sheet. They are the
ones who know if X-rays were taken, nitrous used, sealants
placed, etc. You cannot monitor and collect for work that is
not in your system.
Review Financial Statements
Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100%
Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16–26%
Dental Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–9%
Lab Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–10%
Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–5%
Financial Statements Can Help
Your financial statements can be a great aid in minimizing
your risk of fraud and embezzlement. When you look at
your quarterly or annual financial statements, you need to
look at relationships or percentages between collections
and various expenses. Team expenses should range from
20 percent to 25 percent. Variable expenses such as dental
supplies, lab costs, and front-office expense should fall
within the range of 10 percent to 20 percent.8 When looking
at practice ratios, remember that if your practice has many
preferred provider agreements, your expenses will be on
the high side or possibly out of control. If your fee schedule
is too low, you will also have high expense ratios. Overly
high variable expenses could be caused by overstocking
or by theft of supplies. Comparing numbers from similar
financial periods will help you identify problem areas and
see possible changes. If someone is using supplies to erode
your profits, the percentages will not be in a normal range.
This calls for investigation. All dentists should make sure
there is a system for receiving products, paying by invoice,
marking the invoice as paid, and controlling the invoices
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after payment. In the ancient past, dental offices would use
a signature stamp to sign printed insurance forms to save
the doctor time. In this age of technology, we don’t need
a signature stamp. You shouldn’t be too busy to sign your
own checks.
What to Do with Embezzlers
After you have implemented some changes in controls,
payment systems, and practice management review, you
need to act once you suspect or find embezzlement. Most
people’s first inclination is to fire the employee. Instead,
you need to contact an attorney knowledgeable about embezzlement or white-collar crime, your liability insurance
agent, and your accountant. Before letting the individual
go, you need to make sure that you have collected enough
evidence to convict. When you prosecute, you are in for
a long battle.9 The battle, however, is worth it. Thieves
should be prosecuted. How a business or practice reacts
can have a significant effect on whether employees will
repeat theft in the future.10
Dentistry in America is a $50 billion industry made up
of thousands of small businesses. The fact that you operate a small business makes it harder to have good system
controls in place. In 2003, the accounting firm Purtzki
& Associates estimated that the average dental practice
loses $7,200 per year due to waste, fraud, and poor internal
controls.­And though it is reported that half of all dentists
have been or are being embezzled,12 they don’t have to be
easy targets. Dentists can minimize the risk of fraud and
embezzlement through active involvement in their practices and by being aware of their employees and patients.
References
1. Academy of General Dentistry. Disaster-proofing your practice.
http://www.agd.org/media/2004/april/disaster.asp. Last accessed
April 12, 2006.
2. Ibid.
3. Johnston Jarboe, K. Employee theft at small business high and hard
to detect. The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland. Oct 14, 2005:1.
4. American Dental Association. Protecting Your Dental Office from
Fraud & Embezzlement. November 2005 Community Brief. http://
www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/epubs/brief/brief_0511.htm.
Last accessed Apr 12 2006.
5. Ibid.
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6. Johnston Jarboe, K. Employee theft at small business high and hard
to detect. The Daily Record, Baltimore, Maryland. Oct 14, 2005:1.
7. Arp, T. Red flag warning signs of embezzlement. Letter to
clients, 2006.
8. DentalProducts.net. Overhead expense dynamics. http://www.
dentalproducts.net/xml/display_printer_friendly.asp?file=1041&t
y=textonly. Last accessed Apr 5 2006.
9. Ratcliff, M. Benefits beyond the fringe. JODA Spring 1994:32.
10. Greengard S., Filipkowski D. Theft control starts with HR strategies.
Personnel Journal 1993 72(4): 80–89.
11. Purtzki, M. Earn an extra $7,200 per employee per year. http://
www.justfordentists.com/files/resources/Newsletter/June2003.
pdf. Last accessed May 1, 2006.
12. Purtzki, M. Thieves you trust. http://www.justfordentists.
com/files/resources/Newsletter/June2003.pdf. Last accessed
May 1, 2006.
Author Profile
Cynthia Mattson, CPA
Cynthia Mattson earned her masters
in accountancy from Brigham Young
University. A former professor at
Weber State University in Ogden,
Utah, and Roosevelt College in
Chicago, Cynthia Mattson was also
an employee of Arthur Andersen.
Mrs. Mattson works with dentists,
providing financial, tax, and practice management services. She appraises dental practices, aids in transitions,
and focuses on recent graduates transitioning to private
practice. Currently, Mrs. Mattson also lectures to dentists
and dental spouses regarding financial aspects of their
practices. Cynthia Mattson is a trustee for the Alliance of
the American Dental Association.
Disclaimer
The author of this course has no commercial ties with the
sponsors or the providers of the unrestricted educational
grant for this course.
Reader Feedback
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For your convenience, an online feedback form is available at
www.ineedce.com.
7
Questions
1. According to the survey cited in the article,
as little as _____ percent of all fraud or
embezzlement cases are reported.
a.
b.
c.
d.
40
2
35
17
2. How does fraud differ from theft?
a. Theft is punished more severely.
b. Unlike a thief, the perpetrator of fraud has a prior
relationship with his victim.
c. Fraud is limited to thefts involving a breach
of trust.
d. Fraud and theft are always identical.
3. One survey has found that approximately
______ percent of all small businesses have
been embezzled at least once.
a.
b.
c.
d.
40
2
35
17
4. According to the article, the best embezzlement protection is:
a. Carefully monitoring employees.
b. Making the most trusted employee responsible for
all accounting duties.
c. Only hiring employees with good references.
d. Dividing accounting duties among
several employees.
5. An example of larceny, as defined in the
article, is:
a. Stealing from the petty-cash drawer.
b. Taking a payment from a patient, changing the
patient’s billing address to prevent him from
receiving a bill, and pocketing the money.
c. Pretending to post a payment but posting an
adjustment instead.
d. Increasing the gross pay and withheld taxes on
a paycheck.
6. An example of skimming, as defined in the
article, is:
a. Stealing from the petty-cash drawer.
b. Taking a payment from a patient, changing the
patient’s billing address to prevent him from
receiving a bill, and pocketing the money.
c. Pretending to post a payment but posting an
adjustment instead.
d. Increasing the gross pay and withheld taxes on
a paycheck.
7. An example of payroll fraud, as defined in
the article, is:
a. Taking a payment from a patient, pocketing it,
then accepting a payment for the same amount
from another patient and posting it to the first
patient’s account.
b. Stealing from the petty-cash drawer.
c. Pretending to post a payment but posting an
adjustment instead.
d. Increasing the gross pay and withheld taxes on
a paycheck.
8. An example of lapping, as defined in the
article, is:
a. Taking a payment from a patient, pocketing it,
then accepting a payment for the same amount
from another patient and posting it to the first
patient’s account.
b. Taking a payment from a patient, changing the
patient’s billing address to prevent him from
receiving a bill, and pocketing themoney.
c. Pretending to post a payment but posting an
adjustment instead.
d. Increasing the gross pay and withheld taxes on
a paycheck.
9. Approximately one-quarter of all
fraud in small business is caught by
a tip from an employee.
a. True
b. False
8
10. What percentage of fraud is discovered by
a tip from another employee?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Less than 25 percent
10 percent
35 percent
39 percent
11. The first thing a dentist should do to
safeguard his practice from fraud is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Install security cameras.
Carefully monitor all employees.
Set a standard of honesty in the office.
Perform background checks on all employees.
12. Asking for faxed resumes from potential
employees is recommended because:
a. It shows the candidate is familiar with
office equipment.
b. If the candidate faxes from his current employer’s
office, he’s not a good hire.
c. Mailed resumes can be tampered with by
other employees.
d. E-mail is unreliable.
13. A duly authorized background
check includes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
A credit check.
Verification of personal references.
Verification of employment history.
All of the above.
14. The easiest way to minimize the risk of
fraudulent checks being drawn on your
account is:
a. Handling the checkbook yourself.
b. Making your spouse responsible for writing checks.
c. Insuring your practice against
employee dishonesty.
d. Making your most trusted employee responsible
for writing checks.
15. How does the article suggest your patients
can help you spot and prevent fraud?
a. They can suggest ways to make the office
more secure.
b. Confide in a trusted patient about your employees’
dishonesty and ask him to watch your staff for you.
c. Listen for similar complaints from
multiple patients.
d. None of the above.
16. If an employee always carries a notebook
or paper wherever he goes, it could be a
sign that he is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Committing larceny.
Committing payroll fraud.
Lapping.
Writing fraudulent checks.
17. In addition to minimizing the risk of overstating how many hours your employees
have worked, an automatic time clock also:
a. Reduces mathematical errors.
b. Makes it impossible for an employee to commit
payroll fraud.
c. Prevents one employee from clocking in on
another’s behalf.
d. Eliminates the risk of double paychecks.
18. Apart from the employer, who else
should have editing power over a practice’s
management software?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The employer’s spouse.
The employer’s most trusted employee.
The front-office personnel only.
No one.
19. A great way to include the dentist’s spouse
in the practice is to:
a. Have him question employees about possible
fraudulent practices.
b. Have him process the office’s payroll.
c. Hire him as the receptionist.
d. Make him responsible for the practice’s checkbook.
20. Each month you, your spouse, or your
employee should reconcile your check
register to the bank statement.
a. True
b. False
21. A full audit of preferred provider
adjustments should be performed by the
employer every month.
a. True
b. False
22. The author recommends using a digital
camera or webcam at the front desk to:
a. Take a picture of each patient during the
initial visit.
b. Take pictures of your employees.
c. Photograph each printed invoice.
d. Remotely monitor the front-desk personnel.
23. In addition to showing the name of the
next patient, the office schedule described
in the article is useful because it:
a. Helps organize the office.
b. Creates an atmosphere of accountability.
c. Can be compared to an electronic record of your
day’s production to confirm that all work has been
properly billed.
d. Makes it prohibitively difficult for an employee to
defraud the office by overstocking supplies.
24. The article recommends that your
monthly team expenses should be no
higher than ______ of your total budget.
a.
b.
c.
d.
20 percent
25 percent
10 percent
30 percent
25. The article recommends that your
variable monthly expenses, such as those
for dental supplies, lab costs, and the front
office, should be no higher than ______ of
your total budget.
a.
b.
c.
d.
20 percent
25 percent
10 percent
30 percent
26. Which of these is a likely
consequence of having many
preferred provider agreements?
a. Your expenses as percent of collections will
be lower.
b. Your expenses as percent of collections will
be higher.
c. It will be more difficult for an employee to
embezzle from you.
d. It will be easier for an employee to
embezzle from you.
27. Overly high variable expenses can
result from:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Skimming.
Overstocking.
Theft of supplies.
b and c.
28. A signature stamp should be used to sign
printed insurance forms only if:
a. The dentist is the only person allowed to handle
the stamp.
b. The dentist is pressed for time.
c. The dentist has thoroughly read the forms.
d. Never.
29. What is the first thing you should do if you
discover that an employee is embezzling?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Fire the employee.
Contact an attorney.
Find out if your other employees knew about it.
Hire a private investigator.
30. Waste, fraud, and poor internal controls cost
the average dental office how much annually?
a.
b.
c.
d.
$72,000
$2,700
$7,200
$50 billion
www.ineedce.com
ANSWER SHEET
Embezzlement: No Longer Easy Targets
Name:
Title:
Address:
E-mail:
City:
State:
Telephone: Home (
)
Office (
Specialty:
ZIP:
)
Requirements for successful completion of the course and to obtain dental continuing education credits: 1) Read the entire course. 2) Complete all
information above. 3) Complete answer sheets in either pen or pencil. 4) Mark only one answer for each question. 5) A score of 70% on this test will earn
you 2 CE credits. 6) Complete the Course Evaluation below. 7) Make check payable to PennWell Corp.
Mail completed answer sheet to
Educational Objectives
Academy of Dental Therapeutics and Stomatology,
1. Understand what fraud is as the first step to preventing and combating its occurrence in the dental office.
A Division of PennWell Corp.
2. Understand prevention methods beginning with establishing a high standard of ethics in the office, proving yourself a
key example, and checking your staff’s records at each initial hiring.
3. M
inimize your risk of fraud by restricting editing power to the employer, monitoring time cards, reconciling monthly
your check register to your bank statement, and keeping in touch with patients.
4. Act at once upon suspecting or finding embezzlement, and follow protocol to conclude the crime, instead of responding
with a first inclination to fire an employee.
P.O. Box 116, Chesterland, OH 44026
or fax to: (440) 845-3447
For immediate results, go to www.ineedce.com
and click on the button “Take Tests Online.” Answer
sheets can be faxed with credit card payment to
(440) 845-3447, (216) 398-7922, or (216) 255-6619.
P ayment of $39.00 is enclosed.
(Checks and credit cards are accepted.)
Course Evaluation
If paying by credit card, please complete the following:
MC
Visa
AmEx
Discover
Please evaluate this course by responding to the following statements, using a scale of Excellent = 5 to Poor = 0.
1. Were the individual course objectives met?Objective #1: Yes No
Objective #3: Yes No
Objective #2: Yes No
Objective #4: Yes No
Acct. Number: _______________________________
Exp. Date: _____________________
Charges on your statement will show up as PennWell
2. To what extent were the course objectives accomplished overall?
5
4
3
2
1
0
3. Please rate your personal mastery of the course objectives.
5
4
3
2
1
0
4. How would you rate the objectives and educational methods?
5
4
3
2
1
0
5. How do you rate the author’s grasp of the topic?
5
4
3
2
1
0
6. Please rate the instructor’s effectiveness.
5
4
3
2
1
0
7. Was the overall administration of the course effective?
5
4
3
2
1
0
8. Do you feel that the references were adequate?
Yes
No
9. Would you participate in a similar program on a different topic?
Yes
No
10. If any of the continuing education questions were unclear or ambiguous, please list them.
___________________________________________________________________
11. Was there any subject matter you found confusing? Please describe.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
12. What additional continuing dental education topics would you like to see?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
AGD Code 550
PLEASE PHOTOCOPY ANSWER SHEET FOR ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS.
AUTHOR DISCLAIMER
The author of this course has no commercial ties with the sponsors or the providers of
the unrestricted educational grant for this course.
SPONSOR/PROVIDER
This course was made possible through an unrestricted educational grant. No
manufacturer or third party has had any input into the development of course content.
All content has been derived from references listed, and or the opinions of clinicians.
Please direct all questions pertaining to PennWell or the administration of this course to
Machele Galloway, 1421 S. Sheridan Rd., Tulsa, OK 74112 or [email protected].
COURSE EVALUATION and PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK
We encourage participant feedback pertaining to all courses. Please be sure to complete the
survey included with the course. Please e-mail all questions to: [email protected].
www.ineedce.com
INSTRUCTIONS
All questions should have only one answer. Grading of this examination is done
manually. Participants will receive confirmation of passing by receipt of a verification
form. Verification forms will be mailed within two weeks after taking an examination.
EDUCATIONAL DISCLAIMER
The opinions of efficacy or perceived value of any products or companies mentioned
in this course and expressed herein are those of the author(s) of the course and do not
necessarily reflect those of PennWell.
Completing a single continuing education course does not provide enough information
to give the participant the feeling that s/he is an expert in the field related to the course
topic. It is a combination of many educational courses and clinical experience that
allows the participant to develop skills and expertise.
COURSE CREDITS/COST
All participants scoring at least 70% (answering 21 or more questions correctly) on the
examination will receive a verification form verifying 2 CE credits. The formal continuing
education program of this sponsor is accepted by the AGD for Fellowship/Mastership
credit. Please contact PennWell for current term of acceptance. Participants are urged to
contact their state dental boards for continuing education requirements. PennWell is a
California Provider. The California Provider number is 4527. The cost for courses ranges
from $39.00 to $110.00.
Many PennWell self-study courses have been approved by the Dental Assisting National
Board, Inc. (DANB) and can be used by dental assistants who are DANB Certified to meet
DANB’s annual continuing education requirements. To find out if this course or any other
PennWell course has been approved by DANB, please contact DANB’s Recertification
Department at 1-800-FOR-DANB, ext. 445.
RECORD KEEPING
PennWell maintains records of your successful completion of any exam. Please contact our
offices for a copy of your continuing education credits report. This report, which will list
all credits earned to date, will be generated and mailed to you within five business days
of receipt.
CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY
Any participant who is not 100% satisfied with this course can request a full refund by
contacting PennWell in writing.
© 2010 by the Academy of Dental Therapeutics and Stomatology, a division
of PennWell
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